A driver has been charged with six counts of murder in a fiery crash that killed five people last week near Los Angeles.
A pregnant woman was killed, and her fetus did not survive.
Nicole Lorraine Linton, 37, of Houston, is also charged with five counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence, Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón said Monday afternoon.
Security video shows a Mercedes Benz E-Class Coupe going through a red light Thursday before it plows into multiple vehicles in Windsor Hills, about 10 miles southwest of downtown Los Angeles.
The California Highway Patrol said in a statement that Linton drove the Mercedes at a “high rate of speed.” The investigation continues.
Highway patrol officials did not immediately respond to a request for an update Monday.
“This is a case that will always be remembered for the senseless loss of so many innocent lives as they simply went about their daily routines,” Gascón said in a statement Monday.
It was not clear whether Linton has a lawyer, and the Los Angeles County public defender’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Linton was hospitalized with moderate injuries, but the district attorney’s office said Monday she was expected in court for arraignment before the end of the day Monday.
Ashley Ryan, 23, was on her way to an appointment with an obstetrician when her vehicle was struck, family members have said. Her boyfriend de ella, whom the coroner has not publicly identified, and her 11-month-old boy, Alonzo Quintero, were also killed.
Family said Ryan and her boyfriend planned to name their unborn child Armani Lester.
Two women in another vehicle also died in the crash; they have not been publicly identified.
Dennis Romero
Dennis Romero is a breaking news reporter for NBC News Digital.
LOS ANGELES (KABC) — A nurse who was allegedly driving 90 mph when she ran a red light and slammed into traffic in Windsor Hills, killing six people, is being charged with murder and could face a 90-year sentence, Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón said Monday.
Nicole Linton, 37, has been charged with six counts of murder and five counts of gross vehicular manslaughter, Gascón said.
If convicted of all charges, she faces a potential sentence of 90 years to life in prison.
Linton was hospitalized after the crash, but was booked into jail over the weekend. She was initially being held on $2 million bail but that amount was increased to $9 million.
At Linton’s first court appearance Monday, a judge ordered her held without bail, but a hearing will be held next Monday to review bail.
Authorities say Linton was speeding in a Mercedes when she ran a red light at the intersection of La Brea and Slauson avenues on Thursday. She slammed into multiple vehicles, and three of them were engulfed by flames.
Linton is a traveling nurse from Houston who was working in the Los Angeles area. Police are looking into whether drugs or alcohol played a role in the crash.
On Monday, Gascón said so far police have not developed evidence of alcohol use but they are continuing to investigate.
RELATED: Woman was heading to prenatal checkup with infant son, boyfriend before deadly Windsor Hills crash
During Monday’s bail hearing, Linton’s defense attorney claimed there was no evidence of drugs or alcohol in her system and alluded to “profound mental health issues” as a potential reason behind the crash.
A prosecutor said she had been involved in “a number of prior collisions throughout the United States” including a 2020 crash in which two vehicles were totaled and people were injured.
Among the dead from the Windsor Hills crash were Asherey Ryan, who was more than eight months pregnant, along with her boyfriend Reynold Lester and their unborn baby, named Armani Lester.
Asherey’s 11-month old son Alonzo Quintero was also killed. They were heading to a prenatal doctor’s appointment at the time of the crash.
“A young family was destroyed in the blink of an eye,” Gascón said.
Gascón said the six murder charges include Asherey’s unborn child, but the charge of manslaughter cannot legally apply.
The father of Alonzo Quintero told Eyewitness News he wants to see justice for his son.
“The smile. He had a smile that would brighten up your day, no matter what,” Luis Quintero said, fighting back tears. “He was full of joy, very excited. I loved when he gripped his hands from him. When he would kick his legs from excitement.”
“I want to see that justice is made. Something for her, payback for what she’s done. Maybe then I can forgive her. But not now. She took my son away from me. And I will never see him.”
After hitting Asherey and Reynold’s car, Linton’s Mercedes then collided with a Nissan Altima and killed two women inside, who have not been publicly identified.
She also careened into an SUV carrying a family of seven. They all incurred minor injuries. Several other vehicles were also struck.
Family members and community members gathered at the intersection Sunday to remember the lives lost.
“She was such a beautiful lady,” said Jean Martin of Windsor Hills, who attended the vigil. “You know she was a good mom. To her family de ella, be sure to take the life and time you had and cherish that.”
A growing memorial of flowers, photos and candles was placed at the intersection in memory of the victims.
Family members and community activists also called for safety improvements at the intersection, which they say has seen other serious crashes.
A GoFundMe has been set up to help Asherey’s family with funeral expenses.
Three towns on Maryland’s Eastern Shore have agreed to pay $5 million to the family of a Black teenager who was killed in an encounter with police officers in 2018, lawyers for the family said on Monday.
The announcement of a partial settlement in the federal lawsuit brought by the family of Anton Black came nearly four years after Mr. Black, a 19-year-old former star high school athlete with a nascent modeling career, died after being restrained by three police officers, who held him face down for about six minutes, pinning his shoulder, legs and arms, according to the lawsuit. As part of the agreement, the towns also agreed to make changes in how their Police Departments train officers to prevent similar deaths.
Mr. Black’s death drew comparisons to the May 2020 killing of George Floyd, who was pinned to the ground under the knee of Derek Chauvin, a white former Minneapolis police officer, for more than nine minutes.
After local prosecutors did not pursue charges in the death, Mr. Black’s family filed a lawsuit in US District Court in Baltimore in December 2020, arguing that the police officers — all of whom were white — from Police Departments in the towns of Centerville, Greensboro and Ridgely had used excessive force on Sept. 15, 2018. The lawsuit also contended that the officers tried to cover up an unjustified killing by claiming that Mr. Black was under the influence of marijuana laced with another drug and had exhibited “superhuman” strength.
An autopsy report released four months later by the state’s medical examiner at the time, David Fowler, blamed congenital heart abnormalities for Mr. Black’s death and classified the death as an accident, saying there was no evidence that the police officers’ actions had played a role. The litigation by Mr. Black’s family against the medical examiner’s office and Mr. Fowler — also defendants in their lawsuit — is continuing.
Jennell Black, Mr. Black’s mother, said in a statement that “there are no words to describe the immense hurt that I will always feel when I think back on that tragic day, when I think of my son.”
“No family should have to go through what we went through,” she added. “I hope the reforms within the Police Departments will save lives and prevent any family from feeling the pain we feel every day.”
In addition to the three towns, the partial settlement of the lawsuit resolved the family’s claims against several people in the towns, including Thomas Webster IV, a former Greensboro police officer; Michael Petyo, the former chief of the Greensboro Police Department; Gary Manos, the former chief of the Ridgely Police Department; and Dennis Lannon, a former Centerville police officer.
The men could not be reached or did not immediately respond to calls seeking comment on Monday night.
The lawyers representing the three towns — Patrick W. Thomas, Sharon M. VanEmburgh and Lyndsey Ryan — did not immediately respond to emails or calls seeking comment on Monday. The attorney general’s office, which is representing the medical examiner’s officer, did not immediately respond to a call seeking comment on Monday.
In the summer of 2018, Mr. Black developed mental health issues and began behaving erratically, according to the lawsuit. He was eventually found to have bipolar disorder.
On Sept. 15, 2018, a woman called 911 after seeing Mr. Black roughhousing with a 12-year-old boy, the lawsuit says. The officers who arrived used a Taser on Mr. Black and pinned him down near his mother’s home in Greensboro, the lawsuit says.
While he was being held down, Mr. Black told his mother, “I love you,” and cried out, “Please,” according to the lawsuit, which cites body camera footage from the officers.
Moments later, after his mother noticed that Mr. Black was “turning dark,” emergency medical workers tried to resuscitate him, but he died after being taken to a hospital, the lawsuit says.
Judge Catherine Blake of the US District Court in Maryland said in a ruling earlier this year that the video evidence from Mr. Black’s encounter with the police “is not so conclusive as to ‘clearly contradict’ and outweigh the plaintiffs’ allegations” of excessive force, which dealt a setback to the Police Departments’ case.
Richard Potter, a member of the Coalition for Justice for Anton Black, a group that has sought police accountability in Mr. Black’s death, noted in a statement that the police reforms brought on by the settlement would help “prevent this kind of tragedy from happening in our community again.”
The reforms required under the settlement include more resources for police officers who encounter mental health emergencies, de-escalation training, lessons on implicit bias and transparency with hiring.
Deborah Jeon, the legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland, which represented the coalition, said in a statement that “today marks a step forward on the path toward accountability for the police killing of Anton Black.”
On top of those reforms, a Maryland law named after Mr. Black already requires disclosure of information about police misconduct investigations.
La Toya Holley, Mr. Black’s sister, said in a statement on Monday that the settlement gave her hope that another tragedy could be prevented.
“No one deserves to be killed like this,” Ms. Holley said. “Anton Black did not deserve this. He will never be forgotten.”
A driver has been charged with six counts of murder in a fiery crash that killed five people last week near Los Angeles.
A pregnant woman was killed, and her fetus did not survive.
Nicole Lorraine Linton, 37, of Houston, is also charged with five counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence, Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón said Monday afternoon.
Security video shows a Mercedes Benz E-Class Coupe going through a red light Thursday before it plows into multiple vehicles in Windsor Hills, about 10 miles southwest of downtown Los Angeles.
The California Highway Patrol said in a statement that Linton drove the Mercedes at a “high rate of speed.” The investigation continues.
Highway patrol officials did not immediately respond to a request for an update Monday.
“This is a case that will always be remembered for the senseless loss of so many innocent lives as they simply went about their daily routines,” Gascón said in a statement Monday.
It was not clear whether Linton has a lawyer, and the Los Angeles County public defender’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Linton was hospitalized with moderate injuries, but the district attorney’s office said Monday she was expected in court for arraignment before the end of the day Monday.
Ashley Ryan, 23, was on her way to an appointment with an obstetrician when her vehicle was struck, family members have said. Her boyfriend de ella, whom the coroner has not publicly identified, and her 11-month-old boy, Alonzo Quintero, were also killed.
Family said Ryan and her boyfriend planned to name their unborn child Armani Lester.
Two women in another vehicle also died in the crash; they have not been publicly identified.
Dennis Romero
Dennis Romero is a breaking news reporter for NBC News Digital.
Bloomington Police Chief Hodges says three people in custody for the shooting at the Mall of America each face a felony charge of ‘aiding an offender’ and there are nationwide warrants out for two people.
Denesh Raghubir, 21; Selena Raghubir, 23; and Delyanie Kwen-Shawn Arnold, 23, are all charged with aiding an offender.
There are nationwide warrants out for 21-year-old Shamar Alon Lark and 23-year-old Rashad Jamal May.
“You cannot shoot up a mall and think that you’re going to get away with it,” Chief Booker Hodges told reporters. “I knew there were a lot of people who were traumatized by this. We just want to make sure we do what we can to keep our community safe.”
Officers responded to reports of multiple gunshots on the west side of Mall of America at around 4:17 pm Thursday. Officers were then directed to the Nike store, where three cartridge casings were found just inside the main entrance.
From left: Denesh Raghubir, Selena Raghubir and Delyanie Arnold (Bloomington Police Department)
Surveillance video showed six people had been involved in a fight in front of the store’s checkout area, causing several customers to run away. Two people involved in the fight — identified as Lark and May — left the store briefly and then returned. Upon returning, Lark allegedly fired a handgun several times toward others involved in the fight.
Chief Hodges said, “Mr. May had prompted Mr. Lark to go back in and shoot up the store, and unfortunately, Mr. Lark chose to display a complete lack of respect for humanity and walked into the store and fired off three rounds into a crowded Nike store.”
Shamar Alon Lark (left) and Rashad Jamal May, suspects in the shots fired incident at Mall of America on Aug. 4, 2022, are still at large. (Bloomington Police Department)
Security footage showed the two then ran out of the mall’s north doors, through the north lot and into the Ikea parking lot. Officers then determined they were picked up by a Best Western hotel shuttle and taken to the hotel just south of the mall.
According to the complaint, phone records showed that May called Arnold two minutes after the shots were fired in the mall. May then got five calls from Arnold between 4:20 pm and 4:23 pm
Chief Hodges further explained that the suspects in custody helped Lark and May escape, saying, “These three people that helped Lark and May, we locked them up—and anyone that helps Lark and May, we’re going to lock up.”
Arnold’s girlfriend is Selena Raghubir, an assistant manager at the Best Western and the cousin of Denesh Raghubir, who was identified as the driver of the shuttle that picked up May and Lark.
The complaint states that hotel management confirmed Denesh Raghubir isn’t the regular shuttle driver and the regular driver was working at that time but he allegedly told officers he dropped Lark and May off at the hotel and knew them as friends of his cousin, Selena.
Denesh Raghubir also told officers that Selena Raghubir left the hotel immediately after he dropped Lark and May off and he didn’t see her for 45 minutes, the complaint states.
Officers searched Arnold’s and Selena Raghubir’s home and vehicle the next day and found the orange shirt apparently worn by May and the white tank top worn by Lark at the time of the shooting.
As of Monday afternoon, Denesh and Selena Raghubir and Arnold were all in custody. If convicted, they could face up to three years in prison and a $5,000 fine.
Lark and May remain at large. 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS has learned that both Lark and May are on probation for past gun-related crimes.
BWH Hotel Group provided the following statement to 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS:
“We are deeply saddened by the violence that took place at the Mall of America last week and our thoughts are with the Minneapolis community. Noting this hotel is independently owned and operated, we support the hotel’s decision to immediately terminate the employees who were allegedly involved in this terrible event. The actions of these employees stand in stark contrast to our brand’s values and the sense of community that is at the heart of our hotel family.”
Bloomington police provided an update on their investigation at 3 pm Monday.
Chief Hodges stated, “If someone chooses to pull out a gun or a weapon and has blatant disrespect for humanity, I don’t know what security defense we’re going to have for that. Our security posture will remain the same.”
Chief Hodges says “May is wanted. Right now we’ve going to issue a national warrant for aid to an offender, and we’re going to issue a nationwide warrant. He’ll be wanted for second degree assault.”
Mall of America released a statement which says in part, it’s increased its law enforcement and security presence. This includes k-9 units, patrol, and plain clothes officers.
The mall didn’t say how long those measures will remain in effect.
(Reuters) – Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts will not agree the state legislature for a special session to consider stricter abortion laws because Republican lawmakers did not have the votes to pass a ban on abortion after 12 weeks of pregnancy, he said on Monday.
The statement by Ricketts, a Republican, comes as several other Republican-led states have grappled in recent weeks with how far to go in restricting abortion access after the US Supreme Court in June overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nationwide.
Indiana on Friday became the first state to pass a new abortion ban since Roe’s overturn, but Republican lawmakers there were divided over which exceptions to allow.
Nebraska currently allows abortions up to 20 weeks post-fertilization. Ricketts had expressed interest in calling a special session to further restrict abortion access, saying he would support a near-total ban with no exceptions for rape or incest.
But in his statement on Monday, the governor said only 30 state senators would support a ban on abortions past 12 weeks. The legislation requires 33 votes to pass.
Nebraska’s state legislature is unicameral, meaning it only has one chamber, and is comprised of 32 Republicans and 17 Democrats.
“It is deeply saddening that only 30 Nebraska state senators are willing to come back to Lincoln this fall in order to protect innocent life,” Ricketts said. “As Governor, I will continue doing whatever I can in my power to affirm the rights of preborn babies and to support pregnant women, children, and families in need.”
Nebraska state Senator Megan Hunt, a Democrat, wrote on Twitter last week that the 12-week ban proposal was part of an effort by the state’s Republican leadership to seem “moderate” in comparison to the total bans that have taken effect in some 10 other states.
“Abortion is a right. Abortion is health care. And the decision about whether and when to become a parent does not belong to the government,” Hunt tweeted on Monday.
The near-total ban signed by Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb on Friday prohibits all abortions except when the life of the mother is endangered, the fetus develops a fatal abnormality or the pregnancy results from rape or incest but has not advanced beyond 10 weeks of gestation.
West Virginia’s legislature, also led by Republicans, is on the verge of passing a near-total abortion ban during a special session this summer. But lawmakers disagree over whether doctors who perform abortions outside narrow exceptions should face prison time.
The defeat last week of a Republican-backed Kansas constitutional amendment to restrict abortion has boosted Democrats’ hopes that they can harness voter anger to prevail in competitive November midterm elections.
(Reporting by Gabriella Borter; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Josie Kao)
Two vulnerable House Democrats are suggesting that their support for the Manchin-Schumer social spending and taxation bill may be uncertain after an energy fee that would fine fossil fuel companies for their methane emissions was included in the Senate bill.
The fee, known as the Inflation Reduction Act Methane Emissions Charge, has been a thorn in the side for some Democrats, specifically those representing vulnerable districts in Texas with a heavy oil and gas industry presence, and could end up being the deciding factor on whether the bill ultimately passes or fails in the House.
The bill, officially called the Inflation Reduction Act, passed along party lines in the Senate over the weekend could face doom if just a handful of House Democrats join Republicans in voting against it.
Texas Democrats Rep. Henry Cuellar, Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, and then-Rep. Filemon Vela wrote a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi last year complaining about the fee, which was included in the earlier version of the House “Build Back Better” legislation, “unfairly targets oil and gas companies” and that it would hurt the ability for the US to be competitive in the world energy market.
INFLATION REDUCTION ACT: WHAT TAX HIKES ARE IN THE BILL?
Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, is seen after a meeting of the House Democratic Caucus in the US Capitol on Wednesday, June 8, 2022. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
It’s unclear if Gonzalez and Cuellar’s opposition to the fee has worn off after the scaled-back version of the bill passed the Senate with the fee included, and both appear to be waiting to see how conversations surrounding it shake out as the week progresses.
“My priority is ensuring this bill would not raise energy prices or hinder American energy jobs at such a critical time,” Gonzalez told The Texas Tribune over the weekend. “These are the people and values I represent and will continue to fight for.”
I have admitted, however, that there were “still come concerning provisions” contained within it.
In a separate statement to Fox News Digital, Gonzalez expressed optimism towards the bill, describing it as “much needed,” and said it contained provisions that would help certain constituents. He stopped short, however, of saying he would support it in its current form.
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Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, D-Texas, attends a House Financial Services Committee hearing titled Monetary Policy and the State of the Economy featuring testimony by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell in Rayburn Building on February 27, 2018. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call/Getty Images)
“Democrats are continuing to deliver for the American people. I look forward to working with my House colleagues as we return to Washington to work on this much needed legislation,” he said.
“There are provisions in this bill that will help our seniors and those on fixed incomes like lowering prescription drug prices and capping insulin for those on Medicare. I will be sure to fight for South Texans and make sure no one is left behind,” he added.
Fox News Digital also reached out to Cuellar for comment but did not hear back by publishing time.
Brandon Gillespie is an associate editor at Fox News. Follow him on Twitter at @brandon_cg.
Claims that Donald Trump periodically blocked up White House and other drains with wads of paper appear to be borne out in photographs leaked ahead of the publication of a new account of the 45th presidency.
On Monday, Axios published photos of folded-up paper, marked with Trump’s telltale handwriting, using his favored pen, a Sharpie, submerged at the bottom of various toilet bowls.
The photographs were released in advance of the publication of Confidence Man, a book by the Trump White House correspondent for the New York Times, Maggie Haberman, set for October.
Trump, described by Axios as “a notorious destroyer of Oval Office documents”, was the alleged flusher. But photographs of presidential White House toilet document dumps are possible evidence of a violation of the Presidential Records Act.
According to Haberman, the disposals occurred multiple times at the White House, and on at least two foreign trips. Most words are illegible, but one name that is clearly visible is that of the New York Republican congresswoman and potential 2024 running mate Elise Stefanik.
“That Mr Trump was discarding documents this way was not widely known within the West Wing, but some aides were aware of the habit, which he engaged in repeatedly,” Haberman writes, according to the outlet.
“It was an extension of Trump’s term-long habit of ripping up documents that were supposed to be preserved under the Presidential Records Act.”
In the forthcoming book, Haberman, whose reporting often drew angry reactions from Trump, also reveals that she was told that the ex-president has maintained contact with the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un.
Letters from Kim – once described by Trump as “love letters” – were among 15 boxes of documents, letters, gifts and mementoes that turned up at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate a year after he left office.
According to an earlier Axios report, Haberman’s account of the Trump presidency is the one that “Trump fears most”. Several advisers are unhappy with his decision to talk to the reporter but he concluded that he could not help himself – despite once calling her a “maggot”.
“You have to be pretty desperate to sell books if pictures of paper in a toilet bowl is part of your promotional plan,” a Trump spokesperson, Taylor Budowich, told Axios in advance of Monday’s report.
“We know … there’s enough people willing to fabricate stories like this in order to impress the media class – a media class who is willing to run with anything, as long as it is anti-Trump,” Budowich added.
US Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler has fallen to third place behind Donald Trump-endorsed challenger Joe Kent, leaving the six-term incumbent on the edge of defeat.
With new votes tallied in Clark, Thurston and Cowlitz counties Monday, Herrera Beutler, R-Battle Ground, Kent was trailing by 960 votes. She had been ahead by 257 votes Friday.
Facing backlash over her vote to impeach Trump over the Jan. 6 US Capitol assault, Herrera Beutler had been in second place since election night in the 3rd District race in Southwest Washington.
But her support eroded in later ballot counts, which favored Kent. That trend continued Monday as a new batch of Clark County ballots put Kent ahead of her for the first time.
Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez remained in first place with about 31% of the overall vote, leaving her headed for a November matchup against either Kent or Herrera Beutler. Kent was at 22.8% and Herrera Beutler at 22.3% as of Monday evening.
Thousands of votes remain to be counted in the all-mail ballot election, with Clark County estimating 10,000 left in the district’s largest population center. Those votes are scheduled to be counted Tuesday.
The race for the second spot on the November ballot could be headed for a mandatory recount.
A machine recount is triggered if the gap between the No. 2 and No. 3 candidates is less than half of 1% and less than 2,000 votes. A hand recount would take place if they’re closer than a quarter of 1% and 150 votes.
While some national election experts called the race for Kent on Monday, Herrera Beutler did not immediately concede.
“We’re going to watch the vote count for one more day before making any declarative statements,” Craig Wheeler, a spokesperson for the campaign, said in an email.
Kent’s campaign manager, Ozzie Gonzalez, said in a text message Kent would have no comment until the election is certified. County canvassing boards are set to certify their results Aug. 16, and the secretary of state must certify statewide results by Aug. 19.
On Twitter, Kent joined other Republicans in attacking the FBI’s search for Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate on Monday. Agents were reportedly investigating whether classified documents or other public records had been taken from the White House.
“We must bring the national security state to heel or we won’t have a country anymore. That has to be our top priority in 2023. We start with the FBI & DOJ,” Kent tweeted.
While the 3rd District leans Republican, national Democrats may take a fresh look at whether to invest in the general-election race to take a shot at Kent, who has aligned himself with far-right members of Congress including US Reps. Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene.
Gluesenkamp Perez, who lives in rural Skamania County and co-owns a Portland auto-repair shop, said in an interview she’s ready to take on Kent, touting her ability to connect with working-class voters, and zeroing in on his connections with extremists and white nationalists.
“You don’t put a Proud Boy on your staff and don’t know. That’s a choice,” she said, referring to an Associated Press report that Kent’s campaign had paid a man identified as a member of the extremist group, whose leader and other members have been charged with seditious conspiracy for allegedly helping coordinate the Jan. 6 attack .
Even as later-counted ballots trended his way, Kent and some of his allies were insinuating the delay in final results might be a result of fraud or a plot to defeat him.
Before taking the lead, Kent, who has echoed Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen, appeared on former Trump adviser Steve Bannon’s podcast, where he is a regular guest.
On the podcast, Kent called the vote-counting “not a transparent process” and complained his own ballot had been challenged — a story that was widely shared as evidence of possible fraud by some conservative election-conspiracy websites and Kent supporters on social media.
Kent’s ballot-envelope signature had been flagged as a possible mismatch as part of the routine verification process — designed to prevent fraudulent votes. The issue was quickly cleared up as Kent filled out a new signature card, said Clark County Auditor Greg Kimsey.
The vote counts in the county have taken somewhat longer this year because an unusually large number of voters held on to their ballots until the very end, Kimsey said.
About 92,000 ballots arrived in drop boxes or via mail on the day before the election, Election Day itself and the day after — compared with 49,000 on the same three days in the 2018 midterm primary election.
From the trend in the late votes, it was clear that a majority of the late-arriving ballots were from Kent supporters.
“Each of those ballots has to go through a signature verification process in a very conscientious, careful manner,” Kimsey said. “That’s what we are doing.”
The Pentagon on Monday said it is sending Ukraine an additional $1 billion inmilitary assistance, including tens of thousands more munitions and explosives— the largest such package since Russia launched its invasion in February.
The announcementcomes as Ukrainian forces undertake a counteroffensive aimed at reclaiming the southern city of Kherson. The operationis seen in Kyiv and in Washington as a vital bid to prevent the Kremlin from making good on its vow to absorb occupied territories via plannedreferendums. Senior US officials have denounced Moscow’s annexation planas to “sham.”
The newsecurity assistance package includes ammunition for the high-mobility artillery rocket systems known as HIMARS and 75,000 howitzer rounds, as well as mortar systems, surface-to-air missiles, Javelinanti-armor missiles, Claymore mines and demolition explosives. It pushesthe total US military support for Ukraine past $9 billionsince the war began, officials said.
“These are all critical capabilities to help the Ukrainians repel the Russian offensive in the east and also to address evolving developments in the south and elsewhere,” said Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl. He characterized the package as comprising the types of weaponry “the Ukrainian people are using so effectively to defend their country.”
Kahl said the Russian military has encountered considerable setbacks as a result of US efforts to arm and equip Ukraine, indicating its forces have suffered an estimated 70,000 to 80,000 casualties in the past six months. The figure includes personnel killed and wounded, he said.
Russia’s vow to annex occupied Ukraine sparks divisions, pleas for aid
But the counteroffensive in Kherson will probably be a challenge for Ukrainian forces.
The government in Kyiv has signaled for weeks that it intends to move on the city, which before the invasion was home to approximately 300,000. And while the Ukrainians’ efforts have already helped recover some nearby villages, Russian units have taken notice, said Dmitry Gorenburg, a senior research scientist at the think tank CNA and an expert on the Russian military.
It remains to be seen, he added, whether Washington’s latest arms transfer will prove sufficient toenable the Ukrainians to achieve their immediate objectives.
“The Russians have redeployed a lot of defenses… in that area,” Gorenburg said. “Kherson is a large city. And the same problems of attacking a large city that the Russians faced in the early stages of their attack, the Ukrainians would face if the Russians chose to defend it.”
While the influx of munitions and antitank systems in Monday’s aid package are “good for stopping offensives,” Gorenburg said, “it’s not necessarily going to be as useful if you’ve got a bunch of infantry dug in.”
In Ukraine, the sense of urgency is dire, officials say. President Volodymyr Zelensky told members of Congress late last month that his military had only a few weeks to change the course of the war — a timelinedrivenin part by Russia’s threat to annex parts of occupied Ukraine as soon as next month and by the knowledge that the operation would become exponentiallymore complicated if it drags into the winter.
Ukrainian leaders have pleaded with the West for more HIMARS, which along with other sophisticated weapons systems have enabled them to destroy Russian command posts, ammunition depots, air-defense sites, radar and communication nodes, and long-range artillery positions. To date, they have received16 US-produced systems, three British-made equivalents, and a promise from Germany that another three will be delivered, according to Kahl.
Zelensky’s top advisers have said they need dozens more if Ukraine is to drive back the Russian advance. When asked Monday if the absence of additional HIMARS was an indication that the United States was running low on its stock of the systems, Kahl declined to answer directly.
The weapons, he said, have been “very effective in hitting things” while making it “more difficult for Russia to move forces around the battlefield.” thePentagon, Kahl added, is committed to “delivering weapons from the United States’ stocks when they are available.”
As they wait for weapons, Ukrainians hold the line with Soviet artillery
Though the long-range precision capabilities of HIMARS are not particularly suited to the close-range combat of a slow-moving counteroffensive, they have been useful in keeping Russian logistics — the weak underbelly that crippled its effort to sack Kyiv early in the war — on the back foot, experts say. By targeting Russian munitions depots within occupied parts of Ukraine, HIMARS strikes have made it more complicated for Russia to resupply its own front lines, causing “havoc in the supply lines” that could provide Ukraine with openings to make additional gains, Gorenburg said.
But the Ukrainian military has to be ready to take advantage of such opportunities, he said. Though Western governments have steadily pledged military assistance to Ukraine, in many cases the promised munitions have been slow to reach the front lines.
According to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, as of July 1, the United States and Germany had delivered less than half of the military aid announced for Ukraine. (The institute said it plans to update its figures this month.)
Zelensky calls on West to ban all Russian travelers
ButZelensky wants his benefactors to do more than provide arms to help his country stave off the threat of annexation, a looming fate made more real Monday when the Russian-appointed head of the occupation administration in Zaporizhzhia signed a decree to move forward with a Sept. 11 referenda.
In an interview, Zelensky told The Washington Post that the United States and its allies should take the unprecedented step of banning all Russian travelers from their countries.
“The most important sanctions are to close the borders — because the Russians are taking away someone else’s land,” Zelensky said. Russians should “live in their own world,” he added, “until they change their philosophy.”
Isabelle Khurshudyan in Kyiv contributed to this report.
